


A Simple Challenge

by desperationandgin



Category: Outlander (TV), Outlander Series - Diana Gabaldon
Genre: F/M, Season 2, Semi-Public Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 20:20:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,637
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20014234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desperationandgin/pseuds/desperationandgin
Summary: Just after Jamie acquires his grandfather's men for support, he and Claire try to deal with only a tent for privacy.





	A Simple Challenge

**Author's Note:**

> FIc #2 in the tumblr Summer of Smut challenge!

Sometimes, when we were lucky, we had an actual roof over our heads, a bed to lie on for some semblance of normalcy. Most of the time, we rested in a tent, sleeping among the men who’d arrived with Jamie’s grandfather. Culloden loomed on the horizon, but for the first time, there was hope among all of us--including me. As I spread a thin blanket on the ground, I tried to push away the quiet churning of anxiety in my gut, willing myself not to prematurely celebrate changing Scotland’s future, even if in my own thoughts.

I’d just curled onto my side, stripped down to my shift with another blanket over me, when Jamie ducked down into the tent. It was dark, but the moon was bright enough that muted silver outlined his familiar form.

“Were ye asleep, Sassenach?” he asked, whispering his words.

“No. I was waiting for you.” That was true; I found it hard to rest easily without my husband nearby, too aware of the danger that could come at any moment. I felt him sit beside me after toeing off his boots, then place his sword out of the way but within reach. Comfortable, he laid back and pulled me into his arms so that I could press into the warmth of him. It was far from cold around us, but the heat he gave off always soothed and settled me, the promise of a night spent in my husband’s embrace.

Of course, with an entire army around us, there was rarely time for anything more.

“I feel as though I havena seen ye in days,” he murmured while a hand slid up and down my back.

“Only about twelve hours,” I breathed as I lifted my head to greet his lips with my own. That amount of time _did_ feel like a lifetime for the pair of us, and I could tell he felt it too, in the way his tongue sought permission to tangle with mine. We tried to make up for lost time in the way we kissed; leisurely but thorough all at once. When he pulled back, it was to rest his forehead against mine.

“Did ye have a good day, _a nighean_?” he asked as his fingers threaded through my curls.

“Mhm. As good as it could be right now, I suppose. No one’s ill, but I did treat one broken nose, two broken fingers, and five or six of the younger men have come down with a rash, no doubt from some of the local flora,” I managed through a yawn. “I’ll go look tomorrow, but it was nothing life-threatening. They were only miserably itchy.”

Jamie made a noise of confirmation in the back of his throat before dropping his head to kiss the side of my neck.

“What about you? What did you spend your day doing?” Doubling back to be sure the Redcoats weren’t too close, I knew, but he’d also gone out with Murtagh and Dougal. No doubt the three of them had quite the conversation.

“First, we rode to be sure we havena been followed. We haven’t been,” he assured me, kissing the bridge of my nose. “And the men need food, something hearty, so we tracked a buck.”

That made me sit up abruptly, the prospect of protein filling everyone’s bellies. “Did you shoot it?” I asked, trying not to sound excited and failing miserably.

Jamie sat up with me, and I was able to make out his smile thanks to a flash of teeth. “Aye. We have it. Dougal’s preparing it for breaking down first thing in the morning.” He snagged my lips with his own, which meant he captured my smile. 

My arms wrapped around his neck, and now that we were sitting up, I kissed him again. “We’ll find ways to stretch the meat if we can, but thanks to your grandfather, there are quite a lot of men to feed.” A ( _questionably_ ) good problem to have when weighed against the alternative: a war with no men to fight it.

“Dinna fash about it tonight,” Jamie murmured, lips going to my neck again. “I missed ye today, Sassenach.”

Smiling in spite of myself, I tilted my head to allow him better access to my skin. “I missed you,” I admitted. “But you need to _behave_. We’re surrounded, in case you forgot. And tents aren’t exactly soundproof.”

As if on cue, someone coughed and hacked in a tent nearby; close enough that I made a mental note to try and find whoever it was to be sure they weren’t ill in the morning.

“Och, I’m behaved,” he muttered, though he pressed the words across my chest as a series of kisses. “And if ye can be quiet, there’s no’ a man here who needs to ken what we do. Although, ye are my wife, and I suspect they ken what goes on between a marrit couple.”

I swatted him lightly on the shoulder before letting out a huff of a laugh. “Just because they know doesn’t mean I want to put on a show.”

“‘Tis no’ my fault ye bellow when I undo ye particularly--”

I shoved his shoulder this time and looked at him. “ _Bellow?_ I do not!”

He was laughing, trying to be quiet about it as he muffled the sound between my breasts. Once he’d recovered, he raised his head, grinning up at me. “If ye think ye can be quiet, then prove it,” he challenged.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “And if I do? Prove it, that is.”

“Ye’ll do no such thing,” he said with a shrug. “Ye couldna be quiet while I touched ye to save yer own life.”

Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew what he was doing, but I was too eager to rise to a challenge and willingly took the bait.

“Fine. I’m happy to prove you wrong,” I declared confidently, though even as I kissed him thoroughly, I knew there’d be no true loser here save for my pride. Bloody smug Scot.

But, he’d earn it, I knew.

Carefully, Jamie pushed me onto my back so that he could hover over me, lips brushing mine. “I hope ye dinna mind if I have something tae eat first.”

He’d been gone all day; who knew if he’d eaten while hunting. “Of course not, there's--”

I didn’t even get halfway through what I’d intended to say before I realized food wasn’t at all what he meant. My entire body felt flush as he pressed hot, open-mouthed kisses over my shift. I could feel damp breath making the fabric cling to my skin and his quiet laugh flittered against my stomach as I reached out to tug at his curls.

“At least take this off of me, then. And you could stand to lose a few items of clothing as well.”

His hands began bunching up white muslin until he could push it up over my head. Once I was bared to him, he reached for a breast as I let out a soft, satisfied sigh.

“I have to be ready, in case there’s need to leave quickly.”

“Oh? What’ll I do, pray my nakedness isn’t too distracting?” It was a joke, but Jamie pulled me closer, more serious at my query.

“I wouldna go anywhere wi’ out seeing ye safe first. I promise ye that.”

I smiled at him, my features softening to hear the sincerity in his voice, the semi-dark keeping his expression from me. “I know you wouldn’t, Jamie. But I still think you could do without your shirt, at least.” I understood the argument for not removing his kilt--there was nothing underneath it anyway, and it would take too long to try and put it back on if the situation were urgent. A shirt could be tugged on with barely a thought, and he seemed to agree with me. The next time he kissed me we were skin to skin, and a deep sigh of contentment drifted across his jaw when we parted.

“There you are,” I murmured reverently, cradling him against my body with my legs around his hips. We began a slow rhythm even with his kilt between us, of lazy reconnecting and warm greeting. His hips dipped forward, mine rolled upward, and for long drawn out seconds, we merely breathed one another in, sharing the same space for the first time since he’d woken at dawn.

When he seemed to have his fill --at least for the moment-- he made his way back down to resume his prior task. Once settled between my thighs, he raised his head once more just to look at me.

“Remember, Sassenach. Dinna make a sound.”

The tone in his voice suggested he knew I’d never make it; I’d come to terms with the fact by the time he leisurely swiped his tongue over me. Pleasure blossomed in my heart first, quietly radiating out to my limbs before eventually pooling in my belly. His mouth didn’t stay where it was; instead, I was treated to his fingers taking up the task while his lips pressed to the skin of my inner thigh. Every movement of his hand was aided by slick, perfect friction, and I felt open, exposed in a way only Jamie could ever make feel _good_.

Satisfied he’d teased enough, his mouth resumed its duty, but just before a long moan of satisfaction could escape me, the hand previously between my thighs covered my mouth. I arched my back as his tongue took lazy laps back and forth before honing in on where I felt wound tightly, nerves alert in anticipation. His breath moved over damp, coarse curls, he pressed a kiss there, and I willed myself not to make a sound when he inevitably closed his lips around me.

But he never did.

The bloody bastard avoided me completely, though his free hand did snake between us. The tip of one finger circled, curved inside of me for a moment, then retreated. I whined against his palm, giving his hair a good tug before raising my head to look at him. When I spoke, my words were muffled against his skin. “Don’t be a tease.”

His grin was very much like the cat eating a canary. “I’m only trying to build ye up. See if there’s a maximum volume to yer _bellow_.”

This time it was a heel digging into the back of his shoulder, but he still laughed.

“Are ye saying ye dinna like the idea?”

I wasn’t sure I could say much of anything to get him to give in, but I gave it my best attempt. “I’m saying I want my husband sooner rather than later,” I pointed out with impatience. He didn’t seem to share my urgency, and instead, used his tongue to trace triangles against me as his free hand kept me open to him.

“I’m no’ done yet. Ye’ll ken when.”

Never had so few words brought me so immediately close to the precipice.

Resting his cheek against my inner thigh, the slight scrape of scruff on tender flesh was enough to make me bite my bottom lip in an effort to stay silent. Slowly, two fingers slid into me as he exhaled across my skin. He was watching, I could tell by the way his head was angled that he was taking his time in order to observe the way he disappeared into me, dragging all the moisture he could collect with his thumb and spreading it slowly upward. The circles he made were effortless and my back spasmed as a moan turned into a choked cough. 

When my hand tugged at his hair, his tongue replaced the smaller width of his thumb, his low groan reverberating through me. I could feel it travel and settle where pleasure was coiling tight and low in my pelvis, ready to burst apart. Lying prone, I reached with the hand not in his hair for the blanket beside me. Clenching fistfuls of wool, I tried to will the tension to flow through my fingertips instead of out of my mouth in a loud cry.

Realizing my struggle, Jamie seemed to redouble his efforts in pleasuring me; sucking now instead of using strokes of his tongue, driving his fingers into me faster, grasping a breast with his free hand and pinching a nipple _hard_. Tensing my thighs, I held him close, pleasure making my body bow, the string taut and begging to be snapped.

And then he stopped.

Exhaling a _whoosh_ of air, my hips protested by trying to push against his mouth, though he’d raised his head and was now dragging his tongue up my stomach. Muscles rippling with unreleased tension, I found my voice, hoarse as it was.

“Why in bloody _hell_ would you stop _now_? Christ, you _bastard_ ,” I demanded somewhat hysterically, even as his head ducked and his mouth wrapped around a nipple to suck. Gasping, I arched my back, pressing into the warmth of his mouth.

“I needed to kiss ye,” he whispered, voice low for propriety’s sake before making good on his statement, lowering his mouth over mine. My heart seemed to stop and start again in the span of a few seconds, stuttering enough that it made my breath hitch as his tongue slowly dragged over mine. It was the sort of kiss he poured himself into, and when I reciprocated, it was as if we’d finally managed to make the rest of the world fade away. Whoever was outside of our tent would never be as important as this moment; not to Jamie, and not to me.

Abandoning my mouth, I waited for him to descend upon my breast again, to possibly lavish the other with equal attention. When he didn’t, I opened my eyes only to find his face close to mine, memorizing me. I couldn’t see what shade of blue his eyes were, but I could picture them, a stormy, lust-filled shade of cobalt.

“Did you need to see me as well?” I asked, raising my head to close the space between us in another kiss. This one was chaste before he responded.

“‘Tis like gazing upon a painting, ye ken? Christ, you're beautiful, _mo nighean donn_. From the way yer hair curls around the nape of your neck,” he began, tugging lovingly at a curl, “To the way ye turn pink and glisten when I touch.” Jamie practically growled out his words and the effect had my hips pressing into his, desperately seeking him through obtrusive fabric.

“I want you inside of me,” I pleaded, whimpering the words across his mouth.

“I told ye, ye’ll ken when I’m ready for that,” he reminded me as his lips began another white-hot trail down my abdomen.

“Oh, _Christ_.”

It wasn’t the most eloquent thing I’d said, but once his mouth was over me, coherence was all but lost. I would never understand how he could send me spiraling so quickly, but under his deliberate and well-practiced ministrations, it wasn’t long before he had me writhing once more. Abruptly, Jamie pulled back, but not to tease; this time he got down to the serious business of making me lose my mind. Cupping my backside with his hands, he held me against him, tongue and lips unrelenting as I curled upward.

When I cried out his name, there wasn’t an ounce of caring to be found.

He shattered me thoroughly, fingers gripping my hips as I felt him raise his head. I wasn’t sure I could ever open my eyes again, let alone _move_ as my body relaxed slowly into our makeshift bedding. Chest heaving, warm fingers circled my navel, followed by tongue. As if he weren’t hard as stone and wanting, he took his time dropping kisses to the random smattering of freckles on my body ( _one on my left hip, one just under my right breast, another behind my right ear_ ) while idly stroking my skin.

With no real clue how much time had passed, I finally attempted to look at him just as he dropped a kiss to my forehead. At some point, while I was too far gone in pleasure, he’d moved over me, cockstand pressing against my belly as we finally kissed unhurriedly. This time when my tongue moved over his, it was to mimic how I wanted him to fill me, the way I wanted him to move. Each time his newly repositioned kilt brushed my skin I jerked involuntarily; every sensation was heightened, my body on high alert.

Taking the hint, Jamie reached between us and guided himself into my body with a hand shaking in unbridled want. Feeling him sink in slowly, inch by gratifying inch, was so incredibly _good_ that it was nearly unbearable. He was perfect every time, but somehow, he was also _better_. He’d learned my body as if it were his sole purpose in life to find all of my pieces and assemble me blindfolded.

I quickly discovered that as he thrust, he wasn’t done teasing. When he pulled out of me completely I whimpered at the loss, but didn’t need to wait long to know what he was doing. Cock in hand, he teased us both, using himself to glide against me as his fingers would. He slid back and forth until he couldn’t bear it, burying himself inside of me once more with an unrestrained groan.

“So much--for avoiding gossip,” I laughed against his neck, but it ended on a moan into his hair.

“Dinna care,” he grunted in return, pistoning his hips harder. Now, he meant businesses. _Now_ , he would be unrelenting until he’d made me shatter again, taking him with me. Leaning forward, his hands braced on either side of my head as he drove into me. Dimly, I realized our vocal appreciation for one another could have been completely muted and still, the entire camp would know what was happening thanks to the sound of flesh coming together over and over again.

_Let them hear_ , I thought. I was Jamie’s, owned in every way by his soul.

My fingernails dug into the twisted scars on his back as I held on for dear life. He’d told me once that he could feel nothing in those scars anymore, and so I was unafraid to cling, sure to leave crescent-shaped imprints in my wake.

“I want to see ye, _a nighean_ ,” he managed in between panting breaths. When my hand dragged around his shoulder, he reached up and caught it in a kiss, then brought it back down to rest on my stomach. In one movement, I knew what he wanted.

Weeks ago, while still at Lallybroch, I’d proposed he watch while I pleasured myself. He’d been curious, I’d been obliging, and now he was a man obsessed. Without hesitation ( _and while wondering how much he could actually see_ ), I brought my hand between us. Every time he thrust, my hand brushed the root of his cock, and I wondered if that was the reason for his request. He didn’t need to see, he only wanted to _feel_. The knowledge of that, of knowing he didn’t only need my body, he needed _me_ , made pleasure ignite as if a flame to gasoline. Instinctively, as muscles tightened and spasmed, Jamie pulled me up against his chest before driving home again, then once more before groaning my name and spilling into me.

When I cried out his name in pleasure and gratification, nothing was on my mind save for telling myself to continue a slow grind against him in order to extend my pleasure.

Breathing hard, Jamie’s nose dragged up my shoulder until his face pressed against my neck. Kissing me there, one hand drifted over my hip as he laid me down once more. The gesture was a distraction as his fingers continued a familiar pattern against swollen flesh, and this time didn’t stop until I made a loud, keening sound in the back of my throat. As light exploded in a kaleidoscope behind my eyelids, I wasn’t aware of anything save the sound of my own heartbeat thudding in my ears. Eventually, the dull roar of blood coursing through my veins faded, and I was able to take a deep breath. It shuddered out of me and I reached for Jamie, needing the closeness of him.

Always, he was a step ahead of me, and with a little bit of rearranging, I was eventually resting with my head on his chest. I could hear the _lub-dub_ of his heartbeat, the sound reassuring as it slowly settled into a normal rhythm. 

“Dinna think ye were able to keep as quiet as ye thought,” Jamie said with a smirk of satisfaction I could hear in his voice.

“Neither were _you_ ,” I pointed out on a laugh.

“Hmm. Dinna seem to recall I ever boasted otherwise, either,” Jamie pretended to think. I heard _that_ grin in the dark as well.

With a kiss to his skin, I nuzzled the hair peppering his chest before settling once more. “Are you pleased with yourself, James Fraser?”

Jamie dropped a kiss to the top of my head. “That depends. Are ye well served, Sassenach?”

I stretched my body out against his, even flexing my toes as residual pleasure trickled up and down my spine. “You’ll have no complaints from me,” I teased fondly, sighing contentedly as I relaxed against him.

“Then aye, Sassenach. I’m verra well pleased wi’ myself. At least on this day.”

We fell asleep not long after, a mess of tangled limbs limp with exhaustion. And in the morning, as we emerged from our tent to knowing glances and awkward avoidance, I didn’t try to hide my well-satisfied smile.


End file.
